Safety front jaw for ski bindings or fastenings

ABSTRACT

975,488. Ski bindings. H. MARKER. April 23, 1963 [April 30, 1962], No. 16013/63. Heading A6D. A safety release device for ski bindings comprises a plate 2 bolted to the ski 1 and a twopart housing 5, 6 pivotally mounted on the plate 2 by meansof pin 4 but normally restrained from moving relative to the plate by ball detents 11 engaging recesses 13 in the plate. The detents are urged into engagement with the recesses 13 by a block 9 of elastic material located within the housing, a nut 8 being provided for adjusting the pressure exerted by the block on the detents. The device also comprises a member 15 for engagement with the skier&#39;s boot, the member being fast with a pin 14 rotatably mounted in the housing 5, 6, and having an extension 18 normally abutting one face of the block 9. In the event of an excessive torque being applied to the skier&#39;s boot or leg, the detents 11 are urged out of engagement with their respective recesses, and the housing 5, 6 together with the member 15 rotates about the pin 4. Movement of the member 15, however, is restricted by its contact with the skier&#39;s boot, with the result that the pin 14 and member 15 pivot relative to the housing and block 9 to an extent which is limited by the abutment of a part 16 of member 15 against the housing 5, 6. In this position, one edge of extension 18 elastically deforms block 9, so that on removing the boot from the binding, the resilience of the block returns the fastening to its central position. In a modification, the member 15 comprises three parts, two for abutting the side edges of the skier&#39;s boot and one for abutting the toe cap, all three parts being mounted on the pin 14 and being provided with extensions for abutting the block 9.

Sept. 22, 1964 i H. MARKER 3,149,354

SAFETY FRONT .mw FOR SKI BINDINGS 0R FASTENINGS Filed June 29. 1962 Invehzor v Hdnn es Mar-Kev" United States Patent Office 3,149,854 Patented Sept. 22, 1964 3,149,854 SAFETY FRONT JAW FOR SKI BINDINGS OR FASTENINGS Hannes Marker, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, assignor to Dr. l1.c. Georg von Opel, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Filed June 29, 1962, Ser. No. 206,389 Claims priority, application Germany, Apr. 30, 1962, M 52,699 6 Claims. (Cl. 280-1135) supporting and/ or sole hold-down member which is pivotally connected to the said swingable member by means of a pin projecting vertically from the upper side of the ski, there being operative, between the swingable member and another member rigidly secured to the ski, at least one detent ball device which is spring-loaded, spring-action being relied upon to retain the said supporting and/ or sole hold-down member in its normal position. The safety jaws of this known type require the use of a coiled spring associated with the ball detent device and acting in a vertical direction, and of an additional horizontally acting spring device adapted to retain the supporting and/ or sole hold-down member in its normal position. Where the last-mentioned member is formed in two parts in order to be adapted also to straddle part of the lateral edges of the sole, the arrangement being such, however, that the release of the boot and the foot of the skier as required upon the application of an excessively strong turning force is not interfered with, it may even be necessary to provide two spring devices acting in horizontal directions. The large number of component parts required by this known arrangement results in a considerable increase in the cost of the safety jaws, even more so in view of the fact that assembling the said parts requires a considerable amount of labor.

In a safety front jaw of the aforedescribed type, these drawbacks are eliminated, according to the present invention, by the fact that the said swingable member is formed as a two-piece housing within which there is disposed at least one block member made of rubber or an elastic plastic material, the said block member being preloaded in a vertical direction, the bottom surface of the block co-operating, preferably through the medium of a sheet metal washer, with the detent ball, and the rear end face of the block at least fully engaging a projection of the supporting and/ or sole hold-down member extending forwardly beyond the pivot pin. The elastic block member of the invention which can be made and assembled at extremely little cost serves the functions of all of the metallic springs heretofore required, as its resilient spring force will simultaneously act in both vertical and horizontal directions. The spring member or block is required to be elastically preloaded against the detent ball device, since it is necessary to force the detent ball into the detent recess with a force corresponding to the critical turning moment. As regards the supporting and/or sole hold-down member, however, it will be sufiicient, for the purpose of retaining this member in its normal position, to have the forward projection of this member rest fully against the rear end face of the elastic block, it not being necessary to have the elastic material preloaded also in a horizontal direction While in its normal position. Upon the safety jaw being forced open, this being done by the resistance of the ball detent device being overcome, the swingable member will be rocked in the direction of the torque applied, while the supporting and/ or sole hold-down member will simultaneously be rocked about its pivot pin in an opposite direction so as to release the ski boot without it being necessary for the boot to be first displaced towards the rear. During this action, the forward projection of the supporting member will be yieldingly forced into the material of the elastic block, the elastic block thus being placed under preload and, therefore, returning the supporting and/ or sole hold-down member into its normal position as soon as the load is removed.

According to another feature of the invention, provisions may be made for the preload of the elastic block or rubber spring to be varied; to this end, there may be pro vided an adjusting nut threaded onto a vertically extending bolt and engaging a sheet-metal pressure plate disposed on top of the rubber spring. The said adjusting nut may be disposed on a threaded portion of the pivot pin, and the upper wall portion of the two-piece housing may serve the function ofthe said pressure plate. In addition, the supporting and/or sole hold-down member may be arranged in a known manner for vertical adjustment in relation to a threaded pivot pin. Also according to the invention, there may be provided two detent ball devices, one forwardly and the other rearwardly of the said pivot pin, this resulting in but a slight increase in the cost of manufacture of the safety front jaw, because the ski binding nevertheless requires only a single elastic block or rubber spring and only a single adjusting device. According to still another feature of the invention, there may be provided a supporting member adapted to engage the front edge of the sole, and two sole-hold-down members each of which straddle associated portions of the front edge and the respective lateral edge of the ski boot sole, all of these three members being independently rotatable about the said pivot pin and having projections extending forwardly of the pivot pin and engaging the rear end face of the elastic block With their respective front end faces.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, illustrating two preferred embodiment of the invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective representation of a safety jaw of the invention; 1 7 FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section along the line IIII of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal cross-section along the line TIL-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a part-sectional plan view of a second embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross section along the line VV in FIG. 4.

Referring now more in particular to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 a first embodiment of the invention comprising a substantially triangular baseplate 2 rigidly attached to the upper side of a ski 1 by means of screws 3. A pivot pin 4 is riveted to baseplate 2 in a central position. Pivot pin 4 carries a laterally swingable member substantially comprising a two-piece housing whose shell-like halves are indicated by reference numbers 5 and 6. The lower half 6 of the housing is surmounted by the skirt portion or collar 7 of pivot pin 4 and is thus retained in position on baseplate 2. An adjusting nut 8 which is vertically adjustable in relation to the upper threaded portion of pivot pin 4 engages the upper side of the upper half 5 of the housing and thus enables the vertical spacing between the two housing halves to be varied. For this purpose, the threaded hole of nut 8 is formed as a blind hole, and the head portion of the nut engaging the upper half 5 of the housing is provided with a diametral slot, preferably of such width as to permit insertion of a coin for the purpose of adjusting the nut in the desired manner.

Disposed between the two halves 5 and 6 of the housing is a rubber block 9 which substantially fills the entire cavity existing between the halves of the housing. The bottom surface of the rubber block 9 is engaged by a sheet-metal pressure plate 10 serving to transmit the clastic preload applied to rubber block 9 by means of nut 8 to the detent balls 11 disposed in holes 12 provided in the bottom of the lower half 6 of the housing and resting in shallow recesses 13 formed in baseplate 2. Rubber block 9 surrounds the pivot pin 4, the collar 7 and the adjusting nut 8 with a relatively large clearance so as not to impede the rocking motion of the swingable member.

A second pivot pin 14 is rotatably fastened by riveting to the rear portion of the lower half 6 of the housing, pivot pin 14 being disposed in the rear portion of the swingable member; pivot pin 14 whose upper end is provided with a diametral slot to permit adjustment of the pin extends upwardly through a hole formed in the upper half 5 of the housing. The threaded portion of pivot pin 14 engages a threaded hole of a supporting member 15 carrying a sole hold-down extension 16. During use of the binding, the front edge of the ski boot sole rests against the supporting member 15, the holddown extension 16 engaging the upper side of the sole front edge and reaining the ski boot in position on the ski. Two retaining ridges 17 cut into the front edge of the ski boot sole and retain the sole against lateral displacement. The projection 18 of the supporting member 15 extends forwardly beyond pivot pin 14 and has a plane forwardly facing abutting surface resting against the rearwardly directed end face of rubber block 9.

With the safety jaw in its normal position, the elastic .preload of rubber block 9 will urge the detent balls 11 into the detent recesses 13 with great force, the safety jaw thus being retained in its central position. Supporting member 15 will also be retained in its central position, because the abutting face of projection 18 fully engages the rear end face of rubber block 9. During a fall of the skier, should an excessively great torque be applied to the foot or leg of the skier, the swingable member will be rocked in the direction of action of the torque as soon as the said torque overcomes the resistance of rubber block 9 and forces the detent balls 11 out of the detent recesses 13. In such a case, supporting member 15 which rests against the front edge of the sole will be rocked about pivot pin 14 in an opposite direction, this causing one edge portion of projection 18 elastically to deform rubber block 9. The elastic restoring force produced by the rubber or other elastic material tends 'to return supporting member 15 to its central position as soon as the ski boot has been released by the binding.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a modified embodiment of a supporting and sole-hold-down member of the invention which may be used in conjunction with the safety front jaw of FIGS. 1 to 3, no modification being required in the remaining parts. The supporting member of FIGS. 4 and 5 comprises three component parts and includes a supporting member 15' provided with retaining ridge-s 17, and two sole hold-down members 16' and 16 which together engage the upper side of the entire front edge of the sole and, where desired, part of the lateral edges of the sole. Upon the ski boot being attached to the binding, this arrangement will ensure a positive centering action; in addition, tilting forces will be absorbed at points far removed laterally from the center line. The sole holddown members 16' and 16", while independently movable of one another and in relation to supporting member 15', are in threaded engagement with and vertically adjustable relative to pivot pin 14. The bearing portions of the sole hold-down members are of reduced thickness as indicated at 20 in FIGS. 4 and 5 and, in similarity to supporting member 15', are retained in their normal positions by their projections 18' and 18" abutting the rear end face of rubber block 9'. The free ends of the sole hold-down members 16' and 16" may be provided with downwardly extending holding lugs 18 adapted to rest against the edge of the skit boot sole.

What is claimed is:

1. Safety front jaw for ski bindings adapted to be laterally deflected upon an excessively large torque being applied thereto, including a swingable member adapted to be rocked about a first pivot pin rigidly attached to a ski and extending vertically upwards from the upper surface of the ski, and including a sole holding member pivotally connected to said swingable member by means of a second pivot pin extending vertically in relation to the upper surface of the ski, there being operative, between said swingable member and another member fixedly connected to the ski, at least one spring-loaded detent ball device, said sole holding member being held in its normal position by spring pressure, wherein said swingable member is formed as a two-piece housing, there being disposed within said housing a block formed of an elastic deformable material, which block is pre-loaded in a vertical direction, the under side of said block cooperating with said detent ball, through the medium of a sheet-metal washer, the rear end face of said block resting against a projection of said sole holding member which extends forwardly therefrom beyond said second pivot pin to provide said spring pressure.

2. The safety front jaw of claim 1, wherein the preload applied to said block is adapted to be varied by means of an adjusting nut in threaded engagement with said first pivot pin which is vertically disposed and threaded, said nut engaging a sheet-metal pressure plate disposed on the upper side of said block.

3. The safety front jaw of claim 2, wherein the upper wall portion of said two-piece housing is adapted to serve the function of said sheet-metal pressure plate.

4. The safety front jaw of claim 3, wherein said sole holding member is vertically adjustably mounted on said second pivot pin.

5. The safety front jaw of claim 4, wherein one detent ball device is disposed forwardly and another detent ball device is disposed rearwardly of said first pivot pin.

6. The safety front jaw of claim 1, wherein said sole holding member comprises at least two sole hold-down members independently pivotally mounted for rotation about said second pivot pin, and a supporting member adapted to rest against the front edge of a ski boot sole, and said two sole hold-down members are adapted to engage over parts of the front edge and the lateral edges of a .ski boot sole.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,846,232 Schnell Aug. 5, 1958 2,858,137 Marker Oct. 28, 1958 2,867,446 Rehacek Jan. 6, 1959 3,029,085 Berlenbach Apr. 10, 1962 3,037,785 De Place June 5, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 190,435 Austria June 25, 1957 

1. SAFETY FRONT JAW FOR SKI BINDINGS ADAPTED TO BE LATERALLY DEFLECTED UPON AN EXCESSIVELY LARGE TORQUE BEING APPLIED THERETO, INCLUDING A SWINGABLE MEMBER ADAPTED TO BE ROCKED ABOUT A FIRST PIVOT PIN RIGIDLY ATTACHED TO A SKI AND EXTENDING VERTICALLY UPWARDS FROM THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE SKI, AND INCLUDING A SOLE HOLDING MEMBER PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO SAID SWINGABLE MEMBER BY MEANS OF A SECOND PIVOT PIN EXTENDING VERTICALLY IN RELATION TO THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE SKI, THERE BEING OPERATIVE, BETWEEN SAID SWINGABLE MEMBER AND ANOTHER MEMBER FIXEDLY CONNECTED TO THE SKI, AT LEAST ONE SPRING-LOADED DETENT BALL DEVICE, SAID SOLE HOLDING MEMBER BEING HELD IN ITS NORMAL POSITION BY SPRING PRESSURE, WHEREIN SAID SWINGABLE MEMBER IS FORMED AS A TWO-PIECE HOUSING, THERE BEING DISPOSED WITHIN SAID HOUSING A BLOCK FORMED OF AN ELASTIC DEFORMABLE MATERIAL, WHICH BLOCK IS PRE-LOADED IN A VERTICAL DIRECTION, THE UNDER SIDE OF SAID BLOCK COOPERATING WITH SAID DETENT BALL, THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF A SHEET-METAL WASHER, THE REAR END FACE OF SAID BLOCK RESTING AGAINST A PROJECTION OF SAID SOLE HOLDING MEMBER WHICH EXTENDS FORWARDLY THEREFROM BEYOND SAID SECOND PIVOT PIN TO PROVIDE SAID SPRING PRESSURE. 